Basque and The Pyrenees: From Barcelona out to Bilbao (and Brighton) we must have played them all

We are on our way back from 3¬+ wks in the mostly the Pyrenees and Basque regions of both France and Spain, with a short trip thru SE England on the way back. The latter was added when the airline prices for the planned Barcelona to Bilbao portion kept escalating, and I came up with the idea of using relatively cheap Air Transat into London (Gatwick) and then super-cheap intra Europe flights down to Spain, saving us a total of $1000. The downside is that you are out of luck if you miss your self-designed transfer, so on the way back (the way in doesn’t matter as at worst you’d only lose the $100. 1-way intra-Europe fare) we planned a 3d stay in SE England-( Brighton on the south coast is actually much quicker to reach from Gatwick than London itself), which is full of sites to see and makes this strategy worth considering when planning any European vacation. Of course, as soon as I came up with the idea of going to Brighton, The Who’s Pinball Wizard began to play in my head- having previously played the silver ball in Soho.

We started in Barcelona for a day (I’ve been twice before, but JC hadn’t) – what’s new is a small pre-inquisition synagogue only rediscovered about a decade ago. All Spanish Jews were forced to convert or emigrate from the diff Spanish kingdoms around the 15th century- 1391 from Catalonia, 1492 from Ferdinand and Isabel’s merged Aragon and Castile. One of the synagogue’s patrons- donating a large menorah- is a gentleman from Mallorca who only found out recently that he was of converted Jewish decent- his grandmother was performing fri nite Sabbath rituals 600yrs after the “conversion”! On the way out we spent the afternoon hiking around the nearby geologically very impressive craggy-rocked mountain turned monastery of Montserrat, before driving up to Andorra for 3d.

Andorra, only 468 km2, with 76K inhabitants (Double the Cook islands visited in 2014!), is an independent country set high in the Pyrenees, squeezed btw France and Spain. Best known for skiing and shopping, there is also good hiking in the summer. It is unique in the world with 2 heads of state since it became independent in the 1278- the Bishop of Urgell in Spain, and formerly the count of Foix in France, but now whomever happens to be the French President himself! (can’t imagine that Hollande wastes much energy on it tho!). Andorra’s capital is it’s only true city (tho the nearby towns are really just it’s built-up suburbs along the central highway), Andorra La Vella, a name which from the outset I found confusing until I learned that Its official language ,tho both Spanish and French are universally understood, is actually neither of these, but instead Catalan (don’t make my mistake of thinking Catalan and Castillian Spanish are the same- in the middle ages this would have gotten you quickly killed!). Altho similar it truly is a separate language- La Vella predictably means “the old” in Catalan diff from both vieja in Spanish and vieux in French. Castile is a central NW founding kingdom/province of Queen Isabel, which was in power when Spain “discovered” and colonized Latin America- making Castillian Spanish the worldwide form. Catalan is the language of Catalonia- the NE region (inc Barcelona) of Spain with a view towards separating from Spain- and they are actually much further along the path than Basque Country (unlike the Basque region’s ETA, it has never had a terrorist faction maybe part of the reason it gets less coverage in the Western media, also their national day happens to be Sept 11th)- having already voted for it in a referendum considered illegal by Spain’s federal govt. With a popn of 7.5M, they must feel jealous of co-lingual 76K Andorra’s status.

From there we entered France, saw the 3-towered Foix Chateau, then took a (compulsory and mildly lame) boat tour of impressive underground Labouiche River: Europe’s longest navigable underground river at 1.5km. Drove westward and stayed in Luz St Sauveur near the beautiful panorama of Cirque de Gavarnie. France’s Pyrenees, their narrow windy, gorge-lined “highways” and its villages are spectacularly picturesque (much more than Andorra’s which look mostly like modern ski hill low-rises), as is its hiking tho trails heavily carpeted in various forms of domestic animal dung. Spent a night in the 13th century (small) castle of Chateau d’Arance in the tiny hamlet of Cette-Eygun, where we were served an excellent set dinner complete with a post-main fromage course, and then dessert- iles flottantes (meringue islands floating in-ironically- crème anglaise=english cream)!

Next was 4 relaxing days in Northern Aragon [off the tourist trail, and an unexpected highlight] - much drier than the French side of the mtn chain (one area, park Bardenas Reales, looks right out of an Arizona movie set), but equally picturesque. It’s villages are a beautiful monochromatic sun-baked stone colour, often occupying entire small hills in dramatic fashion. They also feel nearly deserted, especially during siesta [taken by the entire country usually from 1:30-4pm, even tourist sites often shut- Spaniards truly live to a different rhythm- most restaurants only open for dinner at 830pm!). 3N outside cobble-stoned Ainso, and the last in the spectacular casa rurale Heredad Beragu hotel (9.8 rating well deserved) in tiny hillside Gallipienzo, where we were served probably the best of the trip’s many excellent dinners highlighted by a tomato pie appetizer. Also visited cliff-tucked San Juan de la Pena monastery, Anisclo canyon, Sierra de Guara (mediocre cave paintings, soaring vultures better), and very pretty Sos del Rey Catolico- small town birthplace of Ferdinand in 1452.

Spent the last wk in Basque Country- a night in Olite with its impressive castle, then a 2hr walk thru nearby Pamplona (a quick glance over my shoulder, but no bulls) on way back to 2nts on the much smaller French side- St. Jean de Luz, faded-glory seaside resort of Biarritz, and more cultural Bayonne (with a good Basque museum where I learned that jai alai [recall Miami Vice intro] is of Basque origin, as is the fandango, the bayonet, (a probably small part of) the disastrous over-fishing of Newfoundland’s Grand Banks Cod), and that Jewish traders thrown out of Spain were responsible for bringing chocolate to Basque Country as a gateway to the rest of Europe- how come they didn’t teach us that at JPPS or Bialik???!). Then headed back to Spain (again) for 2nts in incredibly beautiful San Sebastian, 1 in small beachside Lekeito, an afternoon at Gernika, and the last 2 outside Bilbao (home to Gehry’s 1997 architecturally- stunning, but content-wise just good Guggenheim museum- new ones are also slated for Abu Dhabi and Helsinki) . The region’s coastline is filled with windy hills and small bays/beaches (San Sebastian’s bay comprises 300o, 1800 of it beachfront, and 150 of the remainder closed by an island) was surprised at how warm the Atlantic still was- went for full comfortable swims (after beach runs) 7 of the 8 days.

Basque country is most famous for its desired independence/terrorism/unique language and food. The language is pre-indo-European, and –unlike Catalan-unrelated to any other and incomprehensible to French/ Spanish speakers such as myself- it alone suffices to attest to a unique origin and culture. For instance the word “pintxos” looks and sounds like nothing in the romance languages. Tx is pronounced ch. It refers to the Basque version of tapas- but more like gourmet colourful bar snacks piled high and deep- often some seafood or ham topped with peppers or other vegetable on a slice of baguette. Basque separatism long pre-dates the unfortunate existence of the ETA terrorist group which started in part in response to fascist dictator Franco’s heavy-handedness (it seems far from coincidental that the traditional Basque capital of Gernika, home to its parliament and the venerable symbolic Gernika tree was chosen as the target for the 1937 Nazi-practice run world-first civilian-targeting carpet bombing which destroyed 71% of all buildings but not the town’s bridge- its only legitimate military target, altho the Basque region was by no means unique in resisting Franco’s nationalists in the morally confusing tho clearly horrific Spanish Civil War [just because Franco had Nazi help is not sufficient to unequivocally paint his Nationalist side as being “wrong” from the outset, the Republican side’s only military help came from Communist Russia, and most of the Western world stayed neutral] – Germany has officially apologized, but the Spanish govt still has never acknowledged that what Picasso brought to world infamy ever really happened as depicted). ETA announced another end to all armed activities in 2011 and is currently being slowly disarmed (does the govt secretly hope they do another about-face making it easier to oppose legitimate separatist activities?) It’s controversial leader has been released from jail. As Quebec-style referenda are illegal under Spanish law it is hard to assess how many of the region’s 3M popn want to go as far as separating, however tho not as far along as Catalonia, sentiment seems strong and the current central govt is very weak after recent election results.

As for Basque cuisine, it is undeniably excellent, but so is the rest of Spanish and French cuisine. Our first night of pintxo bar-hopping in old town San Sebastian was quite the blast- we ate something from about 10 different establishments, and surveyed what was on offer without eating anything at about another 10. However by the second night of it the displeasure of trying to avoid secondhand smoke was starting to win out (this was a problem throughout both countries- tho not nearly as bad as our 2007 France trip when smoking was still allowed inside the restaurant- the problem is that there is no buffer zone at all around entranceways and smokers routinely stand right under the always-open doorway thinking that the smoke will miraculously know that it is only allowed to go in one direction- in fact it seems that due to pressure differences most of it gets drawn inward. Writing the Spanish and French tourism and health ministers is on my to-do list). Our first night in Bilbao was Saturday night and a smoke-filled old-town wandering disaster ending with a terrible hamburger. Only once half-full did we discover an upscale place with an excellent menu and a proper and kept shut double-door system. So we resolved to go back there for our last nite and had a spectacular meal- or did we end up finding a Mr. Wok all-u-can-eat buffet inside a 100% smoke-free mall following our late afternoon riverside bike ride? You decide.

Flew into Gatwick Monday evening, some circling followed by a Monty Python-esque scene at the baggage carrousel [some bags right away, then none for close to 1hr from landing, unhelpful staff telling us all to go to BA counter for help, herds of confused primates migrating across the hall and then back to the carousel several times, then told that there were only 42 bags on the plane of about 150 passengers (yes, that is the number he told us- in retrospect maybe he was not merely incompetent but intentionally bullshitting us for kicks??) implying that they were still in Bilbao instead of sitting lost on LGW’s tarmac. But only seconds later we all headed back over the Zambezi as someone noticed that the bags finally started to arrive] turned a 720pm scheduled arrival into leaving the airport at 945pm (also some issues at car rental- a piece of paper telling everyone to go to the other terminal to get cars, and a policy of actually withdrawing, as opposed to just holding, and then refunding the full security deposit from one’s credit card, putting foreigners out for the buy-sell exchange rate difference) proving that it was wise not to try to connect flights. First time in my life I have driven on both sides of the road in the same day! Both manual too! (the simple rule is the driver always stays in the middle- unless you take your car thru the chunnel!)

The 3d in SE England made for a relaxing and interesting post-script. However despite going into a couple of large diverse game-filled arcades on Brighton Pier to my great post-teenage disappointment there was not a pinball machine to be found! King George’s Royal Pavilion however certainly did live up to billing- outside it looks like the Taj Mahal, but inside is literally 100% China-themed with dragons and warlords everywhere and a banquet menu for future Czar Nicolas that has to be seen to be believed:

http://brightonmuseums.co.uk/royalpavilion/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/10/Careme-menu_jpg.jpg

Also beautiful walk/runs along the white chalk cliffs of Beachy Head (their highest point) and Dover, Dover’s Castle with its museum and secret WW2 tunnels (from which surprisingly successful evacuation of 338K mostly British troops in 1wk from Dunkirk, Fr beaches after nazis overran France May 1940 was coordinated- allowing British army to survive intact), Dover museum which contains the recently found world’s oldest sea-going boat: 3500yrs old found below the Roman layer in town, a fantastic and cheap Indian dinner after ending up in quaint Rye after GPS-lost us on B-Hwys, historic Sandwich (altho the museum curator was skeptical, Lonely Planet states that the Earl of Sandwich asked for meat tucked btw 2 pieces of bread so that we wouldn’t have to get his hands dirty allowing him to continue playing cards while eating, and others starting asking for it “like sandwich” Wikipedia agrees- obviously something must have happened there which caught on linguistically (even mandarin uses a Chinicized version of the word: sanmingzhi), but quickly states that the practice of something btw bread like layers is much older (actually referencing Hillel and Passover as the oldest recorded!) and Canterbury.

The historic Dover Cliffs, as the site of the shortest crossing of the English Channel, are not only full of military history, but also economic/trade history, and one can see the huge port and the shipping/ ferry traffic. Presumably this was even more before the Chunnel opened- will it go down further with Brexit? Standing atop the cliffs the historical folly of Brexit couldn’t be clearer (altho we did appreciate the 15% discount on this part of the trip). This brings me back to where I started- The Who and the words of Pete Townsend. Catalonia and the Basque lands certainly do have legitimate reasons for wanting to separate and I don’t think Spain’s refusal to allow them to hold a referendum is wise. However to set the bar of such a monumental vote at 50% plus one is an even greater folly as demonstrated by Brexit and nearly Quebec. For such a fundamental, monumental and (at least in the short and medium terms) inalterable change a super-majority of at least 60 if not 70% should be required (it is for provinces to change the Canadian constitution)- what if 2 people change their minds the next day? Or get into a car accident? Maudite esti- c’etait mieux dans Le Canada! Regrexit. Like Quebec, Both Catalonia and the Basque Country already have distinct cultures and a degree of autonomy. What they have left to gain is mostly in name only, and if smart their new leaders first actions will be to re-establish economic ties with their Ex's. As for the people "fighting" in the streets, the beards may grow longer overnight, however when they meet their new bosses, they will find that they are the same as their old bosses. Or worse if you are an American pinning your hopes for restoring some imagined past time of glory on Donald Trump.

Don’t Get Fooled Again.

Stu